Austerity can’t solve crises of capitalism

By Gene Clancy

February 8, 2013

Millions of workers across the United States received a rude and unpleasant
jolt this January when they discovered that their take-home pay had just shrunk
by 2 percent. The Social Security payroll tax cut of 2009 was restored, costing
workers an average amount of $850 a year, a significant wage decrease for
workers on the edge of financial ruin.

This de facto pay cut is part of a march towards government austerity going
on in the U.S. and around the world. What austerity really means is cutting
government spending for social benefits and/or raising taxes to guarantee loan
payments to banks. Austerity is an article of faith not only for the right
wing, but for centrist politicians like the Obama administration and most
European governments.

There was little to no discussion of the increase in the payroll tax, which
will have a far greater negative economic impact than the small increases in
taxes on the very rich that were ballyhooed in December.

More dangerous even than restoring the payroll tax are the proposed cuts in
federal spending, including cuts to Social Security benefits. A preposterous
lie, generated by the ruling class and its lackey media, is that Social
Security and other benefits based on earlier contributions are somehow
responsible for the large deficit, and that “reforms” must be made
in order to “save” them.

In reality, Social Security has $2.6 trillion in its trust fund, enough to
adequately fund it for at least the next 25 years, according to Jack Lew,
President Barack Obama’s former budget director and new nominee for
secretary of the Treasury. (Forbes.com, July 13, 2011)

Social Security should not even be included as part of the federal budget,
and certainly not seen as a way to “reduce the deficit.” Its trust
fund has been accumulated from the lifetime contributions of millions of
workers through its own payroll taxes and should be used for that purpose only.
To reduce the benefits of older workers in order to reduce the deficit is
outright robbery of the working class.

Deficits, austerity and economic growth

There are many reasons why most capitalist governments worldwide have
inadequate revenue to cover costs. For the U.S., they include outrageous
military spending (over a trillion dollars on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars
alone), tax cuts for big business and the very wealthy, and gigantic bailouts
for the banks.

Most important though is the worldwide economic crisis, which has
impoverished the working class by permanently removing tens of millions of
jobs, thus reducing the tax base. There has been no capitalist upturn following
the 2008 crash. Every attempt to start new production involves bringing in new
technology that destroys more jobs than it creates. Thus, capitalism has
reached a dead end.

The ruling classes, desperate to have governments guarantee loan and
interest payments to banks, have ignored the advice of many of their own
economists and agencies, and embarked on a policy of governmental austerity
that only exacerbates the overall capitalist crisis.

For example, an International Monetary Fund study of 17 countries that
implemented austerity plans in the last 30 years showed that alleged
debt-reduction plans, aimed at reducing debt and leading to prosperity, on the
whole failed to do so. (Allvoices.com, Jan 29)

Moreover, says the IMF, “Income and employment don’t fully
recover even five years after the austerity program is enacted.”
(Washington Post, May 7)

Since the IMF’s own study shows that its austerity policies reduce
economic growth, why does it continue to dictate such measures to governments
all around the globe, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and lately
in southern Europe?

Policies please the banks, corporations

The answer is that these policies please the big capitalists and
imperialists, especially the banks. They also please multinational corporations
since they weaken unions and lower labor costs. The IMF’s real goal is
not to grow any economy but to increase the power of capital over labor and the
power of the imperialist countries and their allies over oppressed nations.

For example, five years of austerity in Greece has resulted in deep economic
depression and increasing misery for Greek workers. The Greek gross domestic
product, which is a measure of the value of the total goods and services
produced in a country, stands at only 70 percent of what it was before the
European Union and IMF imposed austerity measures on Greece.

The 17 eurozone governments, which have embarked on a policy of severe
austerity, have not only produced a “double dip” recession
throughout Europe. They have not even been able to significantly decrease their
debt. (See “Eurozone Debt Burden Stuck Amid Low Growth,” AP, Jan
23)

The latest official estimate of U.S. economic growth, released Jan. 30 by
the Department of Commerce, has provided further proof that budgetary austerity
depresses the economy. According to this report, “the just-completed
fiscal cliff deal … is expected to trim anywhere from 1 to 1.7 percent
from economic growth this year. With economic growth averaging 1.8 to 2.4
percent over the past three years, the impact of the just passed budget package
… may bring economic growth to a standstill.” (Beforeitsnews.com,
Feb 1, 2013)

Capitalism is, in fact, at a dead end. Unable to solve the economic crisis
which it caused, the ruling classes seek to squeeze a solution out of the
world’s working and poor people through a combination of higher taxes and
draconian cuts in needed health and social services. Progressives around the
world must see to it that the rulers’ lies are exposed and that workers
are not made to pay the price for the crises caused by capitalism.